Offshore Drilling Opponents Join Hands and Take Stand on Upham Beach

At Noon today, August 4, 2012, opponents of offshore oil drilling gathered on Upham Beach to participate in this year's nationwide Hands Across the Sand event.   Organized locally by the Suncoast Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, over 100 people joined hands and stood in protest against offshore oil drilling at the same precise moment as others did the same on hundreds of other beaches across the world.

Many of those who participated arrived at Upham Beach specifically for the event, while others who were enjoying the beach or watching the nearby volleyball tournament heard the organizers' announcement about the event and joined in on the spur of the moment.  The spirit was lighthearted and everyone had a good time.

St. Pete Beach District 3 commissioner Marvin Shavlan arrived just after the event ended.  He then endured some serious grief from yours truly for being late  :)

It's been a while now since the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and attendance at this year's event was markedly diminished from the first Hands Across the Sand event, but it was nice to see folks still coming out and expressing their feelings about this important issue.  Kudos to the Surfrider Foundation for helping to keep this event alive!

Let's Join Hands Across the Sand at Upham Beach on August 4, 2012 against Offshore Oil Drilling!

At Noon on Saturday, August 4, 2012, hundreds of people will gather on Upham Beach in St. Pete Beach to join hands in opposition to offshore oil drilling at this year's Hands Across the Sand event.

Come to beautiful Upham Beach to join hands with those who want to keep our beaches pristine and beautiful.

Metered parking is available at:

6850 Beach Plz

St. Pete Beach, FL 33706

near the Paradise Grille.

Repairing Pinellas Beaches May Cost $20 Million

The Tampa Bay Times has just reported that the initial estimates by Pinellas County indicate that Repairing Pinellas Beaches may cost $20 million.  Please follow the link for more details, but here are a few of the bits I found to be interesting:

• The story includes a wonderful quote from Pinellas County Commissioner John Morroni stating how important beach renourishment is to supporting and sustaining Pinellas County's tourism industry.
• USF geologists are currently preparing a detailed assessment of the volume of sand the was lost during Tropical Storm Debby.
• Pass-a-Grille is now a high priority location for beach renourishment due to the severe erosion its beaches suffered during Tropical Storm Debby.

The residents of St. Pete Beach and Pinellas County's other beach communities are very fortunate that John Morroni, Neil Brickfield and the other members of the Pinellas County Commission understand the importance of beach renourichment and that they vigorously pursue the funding necessary for full restoration of our beaches.  

We are also fortunate that folks like Pinellas Coastal Manager Andy Squires and the geologists at USF do such a great job measuring, documenting and assessing the condition of our beaches!

Upham Beach Shines on July 4, 2012 Despite Damage from Storms and Vandalism

Residents and tourists alike flocked to the beautiful, big, wide sandy beaches of St. Pete Beach this week to enjoy the Fourth of July holiday.  It was wonderful to see so many people swimming and playing on a beach that only a few days before had been pounded by the surging waves of Tropical Storm Debby.

It's a joyful ritual of mine to photograph Upham Beach on the Fourth of July each year.   Aside from the obvious happiness of seeing so many people on our beach, it's also a great way to demonstrate the effectiveness of Pinellas County's Upham Beach Stabilization Project at preserving and protecting our beach against erosion.

In 2005, Pinellas County commenced the project by installing five temporary "T-Groin" erosion control structures on Upham Beach.  These structures are made from durable geotextile material filled with sand, and are designed to hold sand on the beach that would otherwise drift southwards due to normal tidal forces and, of course, the strong erosional force of storms.

Only a few days earlier, Tropical Storm Debby was doing her best to wash away the sands of Upham Beach.  Thankfully, the T-Groins keep a remarkable amount of sand on the beach given the intensity of the storm surge:

 By comparison, this is what Upham Beach looks like without T-Groins several years after a beach renourishment:

The T-Groins also did a great job on the northernmost end of Upham Beach.  Here's what T-1 looked like just before Debby hit:

Upham Beach Geotube T1 before Tropical Storm Debby

Here is Debby in action:

Upham Beach Geotube T1 during Tropical Storm Debby - June 24, 2012

And here is North Upham Beach at T-1 on July 4, 2012, after Debby:

Upham T-Groin #1 after Tropical Storm Debby (July 4, 2012)

While the super-tough geotextile material used to make the Upham Beach T-Groins is durable, it is not entirely impervious to the combined threats of storm surge and vandalism, so periodic inspections of the geotubes are necessary to insure they are properly maintained.  On July 2, 2012, I tagged along with Pinellas County's Coastal Manager Andrew Squires and Thomas Pierro from Coastal Planning & Engineering, Inc. (Pinellas County's engineering contractor for the Project) during their inspection of the Upham Beach geotubes.

Overall, Pierro and Squires were both very pleased with the condition of the beach and the T-Groins.  Pierro noted that the profile of the beach between the northernmost T-Groin (T1) and T2 showed that, given the severity of the storm surge created by Debby, a substantial amount of sand was remaining on the beach that otherwise would have been lost.  He observed the same between T2 -T3 and T3-T4.  He also observed that in the space between T2 - T3 and between T3 -T4 there was evidence that some sand was returning to the shoreline that had been washed away, a pattern of "restoration" that is being aided by the presence of the Geotubes.  

It was clear to Pierro and Squires that while Debby's storm surge had caused a loss of sand on the beach, a substantially larger amount of sand would have been lost if the T-Groins had not been in place.  Squires confirmed that Pinellas County officials are actively pursuing funding for a beach renourishment that would restore sand that was lost during the recent storm. 

Thomas Pierro and Andrew Squires inspect damage to Upham Beach Geotube T1 (July 2, 2012)

Unfortunately, Pierro and Squires also observed damage to the T-Groins, some of which was caused by the force of the storms and some of which was clearly caused by human malice.  In several instances some seams had come loose due to the force of the storm surge.  In other instances, the geotubes had sustained punctures and slashes that Pierro concluded could only have been caused by vandalism.  

Here are some photos of the damage that they observed:

Tom Pierro and Andrew Squires inspect damage to Upham Beach Geotube T2 (July 2, 2012)

Tom Pierro inspects vandalism damage to Upham Beach Geotube T4 (July 2, 2012)

In addition to the efforts of Pinellas County officials to preserve Upham Beach, it was great to see that on June 30th, mere days after Tropical Storm Debby subsided, hundreds of volunteers came to St. Pete Beach as part of a joint effort between the city and the Florida Aquarium for a Sea Oats Planting.  The volunteers planted 5000 sea oat plants that had been donated by Pinellas County.  Once planted, the sea oats plants will help to establish dunes that will help mitigate the erosive effects of storm surge.

It's great to see public officials, non-profit organizations like the Florida Aquarium, and private citizens all coming together to protect our beautiful beach community!